Playboy in talks with Iconix to sell itself: sources

By Jui Chakravorty and Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Playboy Enterprises Inc is in preliminary talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group, people familiar with the matter said.

At this point, the goal of Iconix, which owns and licenses clothing brands such as Candies, Joe Boxer, and Rocawear, is to bring in a publishing partner to buy Playboy's namesake magazine while it would keep the brand licensing part of the company, one of the sources said.

Playboy and Iconix declined to comment.

In addition to its well-known magazine, Playboy also has TV operations and a licensing business based on its "Bunny Ears" logo, an image of a rabbit wearing a bowtie.

The sources declined to give further detail and spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were not made public.

Bloomberg was first to report the story, after which Playboy's shares rose 41 percent, closing at $4.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Based on Wednesday's closing price, before the stock jumped on news of the talks, Playboy shares had lost about 75 percent of their value over the past two years. Playboy's market cap was about $100 million based on Wednesday's closing price.

Playboy has been open to talking to buyers for months, even before the appointment of a new chief executive in June, when Scott Flanders replaced Hefner's daughter, Christie Hefner.